How to Meditate
Yoga for College: Balance and Transformation offers a wide variety of meditation practices. Regular meditation--just a few minutes a day--brings tremendous rewards over time. Like other aspects of yoga practice, meditation is a kind of "drip feed" that keeps your mental and physical garden in tip-top shape. Try this basic sitting practice that uses the breath as an object of focus.
--Find a quiet place where you know you will be undisturbed.
--Sit in a comfortable position (using a chair is fine), with your spine straight. Keep your belly loose and your throat open. Relax the tongue in the lower palate, and keep the lips barely touching.
--Closed eyes are fine, but if you are tired, you risk napping instead of meditating. To avoid snoozing, it might be better to keep your eyes open, with your gaze soft and lowered towards the floor, several feet in front of you.
--Let the breath settle and don't do anything to change it.
--Focus softly on the breath; when your attention wanders, gently bring it back to the breath.
--That's it--a very simple practice. No harshness, no analysis, no judgement. Just keep your focus lightly on the breath, notice when your attention has strayed, and bring then it back to the breath.
--The first time you practice, sit for 3-5 minutes. See if you can get a more detached perspective on your feelings. Maybe this won’t happen the first time, but keep trying and it’s likely that you’ll eventually start to notice a detached witness state growing in you. If it is hard for you to be completely still during these sittings, move something small (your little finger, for example) a wee bit.
--You can gradually increase the time in this practice; 20 minutes is a reasonable goal. However, do not increase your sitting time beyond this without the help of a qualified teacher.
--Find a quiet place where you know you will be undisturbed.
--Sit in a comfortable position (using a chair is fine), with your spine straight. Keep your belly loose and your throat open. Relax the tongue in the lower palate, and keep the lips barely touching.
--Closed eyes are fine, but if you are tired, you risk napping instead of meditating. To avoid snoozing, it might be better to keep your eyes open, with your gaze soft and lowered towards the floor, several feet in front of you.
--Let the breath settle and don't do anything to change it.
--Focus softly on the breath; when your attention wanders, gently bring it back to the breath.
--That's it--a very simple practice. No harshness, no analysis, no judgement. Just keep your focus lightly on the breath, notice when your attention has strayed, and bring then it back to the breath.
--The first time you practice, sit for 3-5 minutes. See if you can get a more detached perspective on your feelings. Maybe this won’t happen the first time, but keep trying and it’s likely that you’ll eventually start to notice a detached witness state growing in you. If it is hard for you to be completely still during these sittings, move something small (your little finger, for example) a wee bit.
--You can gradually increase the time in this practice; 20 minutes is a reasonable goal. However, do not increase your sitting time beyond this without the help of a qualified teacher.